Asia Job Index Q1 2015: Volume of Job Advertisements Increases By 22%

Hiring activity in Asia picked up in the first quarter of 2015, with the number of job advertisements up 22% from a year ago, according to the Robert Walters Asia Job Index. The research carried out in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and Malaysia, tracking advertisement volumes for professional positions across the leading job boards and national newspapers. 

It also concludes that companies have increasingly started to focus on offering better remuneration packages as well as talent development and retention, as competition for highly specialised professionals continued to intensify across the region. 

The IT sector posted the largest growth of 54% in job advertisement volumes due to the continued trend of establishing IT shared services functions and growth in online products. Meanwhile, advertising volumes for HR positions rose by 18% due to an increased demand for talent acquisition amid fierce competition in candidate markets. 

In South Korea, the number of job advertisements in Q4 saw a growth of 14% from a year ago. 

Duncan Harrison, Country Manager South Korea, said:

“An increase in the number of job advertisements was largely due to more foreign companies entering the South Korean market, thanks to the relaxation of regulations, an increase in the number of free trade agreements signed by Korea and a change in the tax system. The increase in foreign investment has also boosted the demand for bilingual specialists, with finance and office managers being in particularly high demand.” 

Key Findings for South Korea:

• Job advertising for accounting and finance positions rose by 18%, in part due to a modest improvement in the South Korean economy. Start-ups and law firms aggressively sought finance/office managers following the recent hiring of country managers and country heads.
• An influx of Chinese tourists generated a further demand for store managers of luxury brand operators. There was also a significant increase in sales and operational positions within the automotive sector, with international cars continuing to gain popularity among South Korean consumers, outselling Korean cars for the first ever for the first three months of this year.
• IT specialists and technical staff were in high demand, which encouraged high-tech and mobile app companies to look for skill sets outside of Korea, and relaxed their requirements in terms of language abilities.